I take way too many Uber rides. This was my thought as I hopped out of the car, a ford I think, and smelled a hint of smoke and the cold of fall in the night around me. As I unlocked the door to my building I thought about how warm my new-ish sweater is and how much I love the new boots on my feet. I bought the boots after buying a pair for my little brother, slogging out early early adulthood in New York – one for you, one for me. I rarely shop so when I wear the new stuff I like to cherish it. Anyway it was just one of those moments tonight where the cool air and the smell of the leaves made me feel alive and happy to be here. Too many Uber rides or not.
Category: Shorts
You would be the best person t0 share
on this particular subject and
you’re the one I cannot ask about this particular subject.
I’ve written in journals, poems for college classes –
thought about it in Paris in Florida and California.
talked to friends and then talked to friends some more.
Ignored it, at one point I completely misunderstood it
and once even thought – It was gone!
but on a random Thursday afternoon I was wishing
you could give your advise and tell me
if it’s worth it
the gamble
for potential disasters or
to build something new.
A mentor of mine from when I was young used to tell me that the grief people felt for their loved ones would never go away. Even as a young child this was more comforting to me than anything to fear.
What she said about grief that I loved/love is:
Grief is like a stone you carry around with you. At first it may seem huge and heavy – more like a boulder you’re trying to get out from under – but that eventually, with time and story-telling about the person, sharing their memory with others (even people who didn’t know them) the boulder is worn down and smoothed into a rock and then a stone, small enough to fit in your pocket. It’s slight weight is always with you – sometimes surprising you as you feel it while reaching for keys or a dollar bill.
How true this seemed to me then and how true it has turned out to be. I find myself at both the most poignant and most random times in my life, thinking about someone who has been gone almost as long as I have been alive. I will always miss my mom but there is some comfort in that. I will always miss her, and so I will carry her with me wherever I go.
Categories
Parisian Jacque
About five years ago I lived in Paris for a semester of school and lived with a French family.
The 3 kids, my french ‘siblings’ had a pet fish and loved to eat chocolatey cereal or chocolate biscuits (cookies). They loved learn English words from me while they helped me with my French/ laughed at my incorrect verb conjugation.
They also were obsessed with the show 24. “Jacque Bauer!!” they couldn’t comprehend how I didn’t watch the show and insisted I watch with them. The only TV in the apartment was in their parents room and one night I was babysitting them/ hanging out – after making French versions of frozen pizza (tuna on one, and some white sauce on the other)- we turned on season 2 or 4 of 24.
Nothing is as funny as trying to keep up with a bunch of gasping french kids, shrieking as things happen while you’re about three minutes behind in understanding due to slow translation skills and a heavy reliance on context clues.
I never watched the show in the states even after my return, it just wasn’t the same without the dubbed voices and the feeling of sitting on worn, creaky, french floorboards at the foot of a bed.
Now that its back on TV, I wonder if they’re all freaking out and watching together…
I had the great opportunity to spend Memorial Day weekend with my older brother, sister-in-law and my niece. They just moved into a bigger house and have a guest futon of which I took full advantage. They make parenting look good. My niece is teething and got a little bit of a fever on my second day in town. I love her so much and got nervous when she obviously wasn’t feeling well but they just did some parent things and stayed calm and don’t get frustrated when she is crying because she doesn’t feel good. As much as I love babies and kids living with them for a couple days reminded me how intense parenting is and how lucky it is that my amazing, cute, smart niece has such great parents making this life for her where she will develop and grow.
she did sit on my lap to read books and we built blocks, which I swear she was counting even though she’s only One.
My friend and I last minute, decided to go to a show yesterday. She had been listening to one of our favorite bands from a few summers back when we lived together with a third friend. Favorite like we blasted the band’s album daily and subjected friends and boyfriends to it round the clock, whether they liked the quick tempo and our voices screaming the lyrics, or not (disclaimer: I was/ remain the only one of the 3 of us who actually cannot sing. the other 2? perfect pitch. so our sing-a-longs weren’t horrible). Anyway, she found out that the band was in town last night and bought two tickets. Boom, fun night.
Well, yes and no. We got to the venue where I got my bag checked and then patted-down by an older woman who whispered in my ear, “this is totally normal, we do this all the time” which triggered my memory that, no, i had never been patted down when coming to shows here in the past. Guess every day in the gym has been paying off, at least to the satisfaction of 50yr old women. I only got charged $10 for a double Jack and Soda from the guy at the bar, while my friend made the mistake of ordering from the female bartender and got charged $15 for the same drink. Penance for my pat-down.
As we walked down the ramp onto the floor, where about 5 bedraggled looking men were bouncing along to the DJ on stage who was blasting thumping base and mixing songs, we realized the DJ was our guy! We knew he DJ’d in the past but were both freaking out. Where was the band that toured with him and recorded his album with him, where was the quick fun tempo we loved to dance to? Most importantly where were HIS own damn music?! who wants to pay money to see some guy mix songs that aren’t even theirs? (although he did then mix a Paul Simon song and it was actually really fun).
Thank god, he read our thoughts, and with his new chrome DJ set and his shaggy beard- neither one a positive addition to his stage presence – he picked up the mic and sang 3 songs we loved and threw in one new one that was excellent as well. even with all the bass and EDM rhythm.
I think what I learned from this show, as the room started to fill with crazily-dressed raver kids and Bros with hockey jersey on (clearly there for the headliner who sounded horrible) was that our guy who now carried the name of the band on his own, had lost touch with his audience. I am ALL for artistic change, but you can’t just throw us from one extreme to the other. Before you make a drastic change, as someone who is offering a good/service to others and in return makes their livelihood, you should really examine who your audience is and why they love you. Keep some of that in mind when you are in front of them and maybe start by saying, hey this is really new and different BUT don’t worry, some of your old favorites are here too- just remastered.
He almost lost us. if he hadn’t picked up that mic while we were both questioning what he was doing, he would have.